The beleaguered bumblebee faces a new threat, scientists say.

Researchers have found that two diseases harboured by honeybees are spilling over into wild bumblebees.

Insects infected with deformed wing virus and a fungal parasite called Nosema ceranae were found across England, Scotland and Wales.

Writing in the journal Nature, the team says that beekeepers should keep their honeybees as free from disease as possible to stop the spread.

from Crikey ….

It was truly awful timing.

from Crikey ….

Lest we forget to pay: how Anzac Day became a commercial enterprise

Former British prime minister Tony Blair offered to act as an "unofficial adviser" to Rebekah Brooks and Rupert Murdoch during the phone-hacking scandal, a London court has heard.

In Australia, unfortunately, some workers don't realise the value of unions because their working conditions are "okay" and "fair". The workers don't realise unions fought hard to improve workers conditions to these standards — standards that could slip very quickly under the relentless pressure from the Liberals (CONservatives).

Now workers who enjoy safety and rights don't value as they should the organisations that brought them these essential benefits. It's a sad case as the Liberal (CONservative) government — on behalf of employers — has been trying hard to demonise unionism under Rattus Howard and now with renewed vigour under Little Shit Abbott. 

Julian Assange calls for the appointment of a Special Prosecutor to investigate the NSA, after documents show US spying on WikiLeaks and its supporters.

Australia's increasing and almost zealous attachment to free-market policies over the last 40 years has left behind a trail of despair and destruction across regional and rural Victoria.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission chairman Greg Medcraft might wish he was in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday instead of fronting up to the Masonic centre in Sydney's central business district for a Senate inquiry into the performance of the corporate regulator.

8-10-13-16-19-22-23 — the beauty of consciousness.... (The numbers refer to the chart in "a simplified history of religion"... WAR)

... and wars...

Here I was, this morning, thinking that, soon, global warming was going to hit us for six, relent, let a couple of doosies go to the keeper and hit us for four... In the next over, global warming would hit us in the head, in the balls and for another six beyond the reporters boxes... And the ball is lost on the roof...

The single largest factor in the underlying deterioration of the federal budget announced by Treasurer Joe Hockey in December was a cash payout of almost $900 million to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.